ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Airmen from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst celebrated the Air Force’s 70th birthday, here, Sept. 15 at the Air Force Ball.
The annual event celebrates another year as the world’s greatest Air Force, this one a milestone, marking seven decades as its own branch of service and how far it has come since then.
“Fly, fight and lose doesn’t just sound funny, it’s not in our vocabulary,” said Col. Darren Cole, 305th Air Mobility Wing commander.
Jon Stewart, host of The Daily show for two decades introduced Master Sgt. Israel Del Toro, the ball’s guest speaker. He is the first 100 percent disabled Airman to return to active duty after sustaining third-degree burns to 80 percent of his body when his Humvee ran over an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan.
“I met ‘DT’ about 10 years ago at a dinner for Medal of Honor recipients,” said Stewart speaking about Del Toro. “By just telling his story, he reduced a room of Medal of Honor recipients to jello.”
Stewart then called Del Toro to the stage greeting him with a big hug.
“I’m very excited to be here for the 70th birthday for the Air Force,” said Del Toro. “I had this great speech planned out about how we started in balloons, but was asked to tell my story.”
Del Toro told his story about being injured and fighting his way back to active duty, adding jokes here and there to keep the audience laughing.
After his speech and dinner, Maj. Gen. Christopher Bence, U.S. Expeditionary Center commander, said a few words before opening the dance floor to the attendees.
“What makes Airmen special is we don’t understand the status quo,” said Bence. “Airmen break barriers every day, we persevere; it’s the culture that’s written into the DNA of not only Master Sgt. Del Toro, but every Airman in this room.
“It was 70 years ago when President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 from the inside of a BC-54 Skymaster establishing the United States Air Force as an independent service,” added Bence. “We were born in the air and haven’t looked down since.”